Grave
of Chuck's Great, Great Grandfather that we found last week in Sisseton.
He was a scout in the 1860's.

This
is an editorial written
in July 1988 by Barry Amundson.
It was published in the
'Pipestone County Star'
Newspaper on July 21st 1988.
I am putting this on the
web to show that Chuck is
who he says he is, and has
been the spokesperson for
the Pipestone Dakota Community
for a long time.

I
am so sick of certain people
telling lies about Chuck.
So when I saw this editorial
in the files I decided to
put it on the site. There
are other newspaper articles
that were in various papers
over the years, but I chose
this one as it says exactly
what Chuck is like.

Recently
a man visited us at the
Center who was interested
in writing a piece about
Pipestone, he was looking
for information so came
and spoke to Chuck and asked
him many questions. He said
that he believed everything
Chuck said because he had
looked through the old newspapers
in the archives and Chuck
has never changed his story,
he is saying the same things
now as he has through the
years. Other people however
change their story with
the weather.

The
article follows:

"When
times are troubling,
some people have the
inner strength to
lead others.

In the past few months,
there has been an
effort by a group
of traditional Indian
religion people to
stop the sale of pipestone
here and to regain
the quarry land for
the Yankton Sioux.

But
those issues have
not set well with
the group of about
100 local Indian
pipemakers and their
families.

Their
leader in fighting
against the effort
has been Chuck Derby,
a pipemaker himself
and an employee
at the Monument.

He
is truly a leader.

He
has not only been
an articulate and
soft-spoken leader
for the local Indian
group, but he has
also shown courage.

It
was not an easy
thing to deliver
a van load of food
to the group of
walkers when they
arrived here Saturday
night. It was simply
an act of goodwill.

It
was not an easy
thing to do to meet
with the group,
at their gathering
Sunday, and discuss
the issues with
the group.

Derby
knows that the group
would put an end
to their livelihood
here if the sale
of pipestone is
some day stopped.

Yet,
he showed goodwill
and courage by meeting
with the group.

That's
the sign of a true
leader

What
motivates Mr. Derby?

He
is simply just filled
with compassion
for the local Indian
people. He cares
about them and their
future.

Pipestone
has been home to
many of the local
Indian families
for three generations
or more. They don't
want to leave.

Chuck
doesn't want to
leave either.

Many
of the local Indians
have a lot of respect
for their leader.
Others in the Pipestone
community should
respect this man
too.

He
deserves it."

21st
July 1988
by Barry Amundson

This
is the actual
article, it
didn't come
out very clear
in the scan
so I decided
to type it
so that it
could be read.